Edgar Allan Poe was born in Boston in 1809 to actor David Poe, Jr. and actress Elizabeth Arnold Hopkins Poe. He had two siblings, one older brother, named William Henry Leonard Poe, and one younger sister, named Rosalie Poe. His mother was very loving, yet his father, not so much. Edgar’s father abandoned their family in 1810 and the year after, his mother died from tuberculosis when he was two years old, on December 8, 1811. During this same year, Edgar is taken in by John and Frances Allan, and they raised him as if he was their real son. Mr. Allan, a Scottish merchant who sold tobacco, cloth, wheat, tombstones, and slaves down in Richmond, VA, the place where Edgar would spend most of his life later on.
Their family soon sailed to Britain in 1815, and Poe attended a grammar school in Irvine, Scotland. In 1816, he then rejoined his family back in London, England, a place where he would be schooled for a major part of his life. Edgar had shown an interest in art and sports, and was very talented in both fields. As his talents developed even more, he showed a very high aptitude for Latin, poetry, acting, and swimming. He was a very talented student, but soon, he traveled to Richmond, Virginia in the year of 1820 to become the lieutenant of a Richmond youth honor guard.
During this time he was also secretly engaged to Sarah Elmira Royster, and soon became a student at the University of Virginia. He studied ancient and modern languages, and was very successful while learning this subject. This school was relatively new, and was based off the ideas of Thomas Jefferson, so there were many rules against gambling, horses, guns, tobacco, and alcohol. These rules were in place, but were not enforced very strictly. While he was learning at the university, his relationship with Royster became more distant and weak, and he began to gamble very regularly. He was soon at $2000 in debt, and this realization came to him with a shock, causing great worry and panic. His foster father refused to help him pay off the debt, which was the beginning of when his relationship with his father began to falter, and he was alone in solving this problem. He even claimed that he didn't even have enough money to register for classes, furnish his dormitory, and purchase textbooks, hoping that he would be able to get more money out of the sympathy of others. This worked a little bit; he gained some additional money given to him to purchase clothes. But he used this negatively, and spent that money on even more gambling, causing his debt to stack higher and higher. In fact, he was in so much debt that he had to burn furniture to keep warm, and was under a lot of stress because of this. This was a very tough time for Poe, and this financial loss was just the start of his emotionally and psychologically difficult life.
A year later, Poe dropped out of the university. He didn't want to return to Richmond after he found out that his love was married to another man. He traveled to Boston in April of 1827, and did a variety of jobs, some involving writing. Some of his jobs included being a clerk and a newspaper writer and editor. This was just the beginning of his amazing life though, his amazing works of writing still yet to come.
Their family soon sailed to Britain in 1815, and Poe attended a grammar school in Irvine, Scotland. In 1816, he then rejoined his family back in London, England, a place where he would be schooled for a major part of his life. Edgar had shown an interest in art and sports, and was very talented in both fields. As his talents developed even more, he showed a very high aptitude for Latin, poetry, acting, and swimming. He was a very talented student, but soon, he traveled to Richmond, Virginia in the year of 1820 to become the lieutenant of a Richmond youth honor guard.
During this time he was also secretly engaged to Sarah Elmira Royster, and soon became a student at the University of Virginia. He studied ancient and modern languages, and was very successful while learning this subject. This school was relatively new, and was based off the ideas of Thomas Jefferson, so there were many rules against gambling, horses, guns, tobacco, and alcohol. These rules were in place, but were not enforced very strictly. While he was learning at the university, his relationship with Royster became more distant and weak, and he began to gamble very regularly. He was soon at $2000 in debt, and this realization came to him with a shock, causing great worry and panic. His foster father refused to help him pay off the debt, which was the beginning of when his relationship with his father began to falter, and he was alone in solving this problem. He even claimed that he didn't even have enough money to register for classes, furnish his dormitory, and purchase textbooks, hoping that he would be able to get more money out of the sympathy of others. This worked a little bit; he gained some additional money given to him to purchase clothes. But he used this negatively, and spent that money on even more gambling, causing his debt to stack higher and higher. In fact, he was in so much debt that he had to burn furniture to keep warm, and was under a lot of stress because of this. This was a very tough time for Poe, and this financial loss was just the start of his emotionally and psychologically difficult life.
A year later, Poe dropped out of the university. He didn't want to return to Richmond after he found out that his love was married to another man. He traveled to Boston in April of 1827, and did a variety of jobs, some involving writing. Some of his jobs included being a clerk and a newspaper writer and editor. This was just the beginning of his amazing life though, his amazing works of writing still yet to come.